The Pistons keep up with Boston, but can’t get the W

Though this one started out looking like Boston was going to dominate the Pistons again on their home court, The Pistons made a game out of this one. Detroit never really had the game in hand, but they did have a chance to with in Friday night’s 86-78 loss to the Celtics.

Key Points:

My first bullet has to be about Kendrick Perkins’ mugging of Jason Maxiell after he pulled down a board. I know that Rip was called for a flagrant one on Perkins earlier in the game but that one was baby stuff compared to what Perkins did to Maxiell. Can’t stand the guy and his attitude and Detroit’s fan are not the only ones to scream dirty when it comes to Perk and the Celtics for that matter. I loved how Jason popped right up to defend himself, but why is it ok that Kevin Garnett gets away with shoving Maxiell after he was trying to defend himself? Take a look at the take down that I put up right here.

Really????? Are you serious Kendrick? “I was trying to foul him hard across the arm,” Perkins said. “He ducked and I got him around the neck.” Via The Detroit News

Photo/Getty Images

Remember me telling you about our guests Vladan and Martin from Austria? Well they were kind enough to uploaded a video for us of the crowds reaction when Perk got tossed….GET OUT! Gotta love it!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTathZH4G8I

“We played good in spurts,” Allen Iverson said. “But against a team that good, that experienced, a team that’s won a championship, that’s not good enough.” Via The Detroit News

Sheed put up 12 points with 6 boards, 2 steals and blocked shot. They may not be huge numbers but he was one of the reasons the Pistons kept themselves in the game. And that Block…led to the Rodney Stuckey dunk.

Amir Johnson started the game but played just 5 minutes. Dyess started the second half with the starters. I don’t have a problem with it at all today for the simple fact that Dyess and Maxiell were playing well but to pull the kid after a mistake and not put him back in the game again seems to be Curry’s game plan with everyone (that he can get away with it on).

No time for Kwame or Walter, but I don’t really see the point in complaining. Kwame eats up fouls and boards when he can and if you don’t want to put Walter in simply for the Suave…then it’s just a crime.

5th straight loss to the Celtics.

The Pistons never led.

34 paint points for each team.

Drew Sharp still think it’s over “Grab a shovel and bury this season. They’ll still win their share of games, but this isn’t a confident team. They’ll still have their singular moments of brilliance, but the consistency required for long playoff runs isn’t there.”

Board war lost 44-36.

Too many easy buckets for KG and the rest of the Celtics for that matter.

The defense looked good but to beat a team like Boston it needs to be much better.

From Vladan and Martin, who enjoyed not only their first Pistons game in person but their first LIVE NBA game. “Hamilton was awesome and he got the loudest cheers – when he entered the game for the first time, the people went crazy. The ‘Sheeeeeeeeeed’ chant is also way better. 🙂 Loved it. Two things I wanted to do today was being part of the ‘Sheeeeeeeeeeeed’ chant and screaming ‘Deeeeeeeeeeetroit Baaaaaaasketbaaaaaaaaall’. Mission accomplished.”

14 boards for Antonio McDyess…yes 14. Dyess, no matter what it may be, is doing whatever he can to make this team win.

Prince just 1-for-7 for 4 points with a blocked shot, 3 steals and 4 assists. On a night like yesterday…everyone needed to hit their shots for the Pistons to have a chance at the W. And I’m not just putting it on Prince either. Dyess was 1-for-8, Sheed was 5-for-16.

Greg Kelser said something that I was thinking late in the game. He mentioned that nobody was really hitting their shots and Stuckey needed to just take the ball and do what he could to take over. Had he had the ball in his hand…maybe he could have.

I don’t know about you, but I’m just really happy that the Pistons showed up for this game. I was pleasantly surprised when they fought back in the second and late in the game. So yes a win would have been great, but after the shellacking they took the last two times they played Boston…this one was ok.

Truly a playoff sort of feel to the game.

The Eddie House three in the fourth finished the Pistons off.

As always I watched this one through the eyes of Gregg and Georege so if the ESPN crew had anything interesting to say please leave them in the comments.

Chris McCosky The Detroit News“After the game, Iverson was asked what seemed like a fair question considering recent history: Are the Pistons good enough to beat the Celtics — either one time or in a playoff series” “If I don’t feel we are, then there’s no need to even come out for Cleveland (on Sunday),” he said. “We might as well just stay in the locker room. If you lose confidence, that’s pretty much it. As individuals and as a team, as soon as you don’t believe in yourself or the people around you, you are done.”I hope that don’t happen.”

34 Responses to "The Pistons keep up with Boston, but can’t get the W"

i cant believe ur ripping on kendrick perkins. ur just mad cuz he plays well against the pistons. his attitude is something the pistons need. ok he was ejected and he agreed and i agree, at least hes not like sheed and complains. if that happened with sheed he would have argued with the ref for a minute or two. also the pistons are over..for now cuz if they cant beat the celtics how do you think they will make it to hte finals, they wont, they really should have put ai on the bench then he could take over in the 2nd quarter and its not fair to rip cuz hes the best team player on the team.

No surprise about KG or Perkins. One’s a pansy, the other’s a thug. I hope he enjoys that suspension that’s coming.

Curry sucks at calling plays out of timeouts. They usually always fail.

Curry’s rotation is a joke. No Bynum or Afflalo at all. 38 minutes for McDyess and Sheed is ridiculous while Maxiell was so key in the 4th but played just 15 minutes. And then Curry takes him out. What?

Stuckey and/or Curry waited too long for him to take over offensively.

Just 4 points for Tay? Since when did PP become a lockdown defender?

KG had about 183 open looks. Newsflash: He’s a very good outside shooter.

It doesn’t surprise me that Amir only played 5 minutes. His poor rotations led to 2 or 3 of KG’s open jumpers to start the game. He’s always seemed to have problems with his defensive rotations and timing. If all he can do is block the occasional weak-side shot, I don’t know if he’ll ever be more than a spark plug off the bench.

I only saw the first half, but I agree that Stuckey looked tentative. Too often he would pick up his dribble and try to start a play from 30 feet out. He needs to get it in his head that nobody can stop his drives.

Also, someone needs to take Tayshaun aside and tell him that he needs to do things quickly when the ball is in his hands. He wastes so much time by holding the ball on the wing; drive it, man!

I recorded the game and rewound it at various times and saw that Amir made more than 1 defensive mistake. I think I counted 2 in the first 3 plays. My memory is a bit foggy but I think the first basket which was an open layup/dunk Amir switched when he shouldn’t have and left his guy open. Then a play or two later he was late in his defensive rotation and left his guy open for a jumper. And I also don’t think he was boxing his guy out well. He definitely had a rough time out there and I was worried until we switched him out.

Yes Amir was having quite a hard time, and I was happy Dyess and Max played. I didn’t pay much attention to how many times he missed his assignment but I was happy Curry pulled him. Funny thing is Curry does that…he did it to Maxiell (I think, who knows why he was in the Dog house before) I just worry that Amir may never really be given the chance to play though his mistakes because curry can’t afford it.

And YES Perk is dirty and I will defend my team all day long. I watched and like my Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn back in the day but things are different now.

we need to trade amir and some other players and get a big man that can actually play defense i know he is young but i just dont see him becomin a quality center he fouls way to much and in so much little time blows defensive assignments to give his guy a wide open look at a layup or dunk and who cares if rip was throwin elbows i would be too he is good at gettin away with a little shove here or an elbow there and he always gets the foul called on the person he shoved i love it

If there is anyone that believes that certain players are not given preferentail treatment in this league…I HAVE A CERTAIN BRIDGE IN BROOKLYN TO SELL!!!lol
Like anything else money talks and B.S. WALKS!
Don’t waste my time being angry,that is only self destructive…I enjoy watching the game and wish this for my pistons!!
Enjoy the game F the refs….don’t let them into your heads..nor the other team!
Play your hearts out and do the best your capable off and it’s all good with me!
DETROIT BASKETBALL!

You didn’t miss much with the ESPN crew. Every time Mark Jackson calls a game featuring a team with an unstable coaching situation, it seems like he spends the entire game auditioning for that job, which is what he did last night with Curry.

Mike Breen did call Jackson “uppity” at one point, though, so that was entertaining.

though Mark Jackson said he thought that Rip flagrant should not of been a flagrant.

umair
The reason he didn’t complain was because he was just trying to stay away from Max after he realized Max wasn’t gonna just walk away like that. And Kendrick Perkins complains all the time, he’s one the leaders in the league in techs, and all the other teams complain about him.

One thing I saw after the shove, was that KG shoved Max, BUT THEN Sheed pushed KG, which I was glad to see.

My only thing with the squabble was with AI. Don’t get me wrong, he did the right thing not escalating the situation and all that, but I really would of liked to see him get in the Celtics faces. Not fight or nothing, but really show he was standing up for Max. In my opinion that would be the fox hole he was talking about. Sometimes showing the guys you got their backs, rather than let the refs handle it would do more.

Oh and Steve I agree with you about Curry and timeouts. We always suck after timeouts, and ESPECIALLY at the beginning of quarters, I’m not sure what he’s saying, or what the players are doing, but we end up getting killed those times

“My only thing with the squabble was with AI. Don’t get me wrong, he did the right thing not escalating the situation and all that, but I really would of liked to see him get in the Celtics faces. Not fight or nothing, but really show he was standing up for Max. In my opinion that would be the fox hole he was talking about. Sometimes showing the guys you got their backs, rather than let the refs handle it would do more.”

First off I can’t stand the Celts, but then again I’m a Pistons fan…. But i get so sick of watching them playing anybody. Ever since they got the new lineup they are just a bunch of dick’s. Even last year you couldn’t watch a Boston game without seeing Rondo or Perkins or KG or any of em trying to fight somebody. If Detroit doesn’t win the Eastern Conference Finals I am strongly pulling for any team that plays Boston. They are cocky pieces of crap. They have the whole thug like mentality… Going for the arm? You put a headlock on the guy and swung his head around… What sucked about it though was that they got the advantage. Allen made the free throw and Max missed both. If Max got a Tech for pushing Perkins then Perkins should shoot the free throw or else anybody on the court should be able to shoot for our Flagarant 2… I’m not a huge fan of the trade, but Detroit looks like they are at least trying now… I’ll take that..

Watching the game from home, it felt like the Pistons didn’t play with very much passion (other than Maxi). After Max got thrown to the floor I thought that might get them going, but it was just more of the same.

Joe D must be sitting in the stands thinking, “Why is it always Boston in the way?” both from the standpoint of his team now and the Bad Boys in the 80s.

The current starters have to rediscover their “Edge” or Joe D need to get some players in here that kind play with some intensity. I love the Pistons, but just am not feeling it from the way they’ve been playing.

Thats exactly what I said before, of why KG wasn’t handed a tech when he pushed Maxx. And Afflalo should’ve played, he’s a spark off the bench with his defense. We’ve got a couple payers that aren’t being used, maybe we could trade them for a quality big who plays tough defense. ?

i also was at the game and im still hating ai from the start…i give props to max…rip my man! thankyou everyone for giving him a huge round of applause when he first checked in! i still dont get curry and his coaching strategy…if tays playing that bad why is he putting in ai…when ais horrible too i mean put in Walter Hermann a.k.a (rico swauve) i also wish J-Maxx punched then ate kendrick perkins like he does babys.(heres what i think)… FIRE CURRY…and trade A.I.

i think AI is doing well we just need to let him and stuck isolate they can drive past any one and finish greatly or dish it out to Prince, rip, or sheed for 3s. We do not take enough threes… the only person that takes any is sheed. Look at the Magic and the lakers and the celtics… they all jack up threes a lot and there 3 of the top 4 teams… anyways, were improving but we play crappily at the beginning of the quarter and out of timeouts

The game can be a turning point in the season. The foul on Maxiell really showed we are still there. It is kind of like the season: We lose a lot, but we show we are still there.

Chris McCosky from the Detroit News is saying the truth. The team plays without that “spark” they had the last couple of years. Just for example, ‘Sheed took ten, yes ten threes in a game, last week. But I always look at the boxscore and they cut the threes. Maybe Curry is not that happy.
I do have to disagree with one point with Mr. McCosky. The Pistons can still turn the switch on. They are a veteran team with young players, that just what you need. If I didn’t have faith in these guys, I would not be on this site.

BELIEVE ME EVERYONE!!!! THE PISTONS AREN”T OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! REMEMBER ALL THOSE SUCCESSFUL REGULAR SEASON AND A BURN OUT IN THE PLAYOFFS!!!!! THIS YEAR LOOKS LIKE THE OPPOSITE!!! WE CAN DO !! YES WE CAN!!!!!!!! JUST PLEASE BELIEVE EVERYONE……PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11 I HATE TO SEE PISTONS NATION GO DOWN ON OUR FAVORITE TEAM LIKE THIS ….JUST BELIEVE!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for agreeing with me.. I have the same belief.. i know A.I may not be playing well right now.. but when it comes playoff time he wont let the pistons go under.. he will shine in the playoffs.. BELIEVE!

currys rotation does suck also everytime i saw KG get the ball he was wide open and the blame has to go to mcdyess. f u watched the game over agian dyess always left him open and he went runing over to KG

Since when is running over and pushing a guy whose back is turned to you considered “defending yourself”. The right call was made. Perk got his flagrant 2 for the foul, and Maxiell retaliated and got a technical. End of story. Max didn’t defend himself. He let his ego get in the way cuz he got thrown to the ground like a rag doll.